Suit says U.S. lags in issuing green card

[Kadie]

Suit says U.S. lags in issuing green card
Immigrants unable to prove legal status say they're suffering.

By Emily Bazar -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, July 8, 2004

Immigrants have filed a class-action lawsuit saying they've lost their jobs, their ability to travel abroad and their peace of mind because the federal government has lagged in providing documentation that proves they're here legally.

The 10 named plaintiffs, based in California and other states, filed their complaint in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Tuesday on behalf of potentially thousands of others nationwide.

All had been granted legal permanent resident status - also called green-card status - by immigration courts but have been waiting for months, and in some cases more than a year, for paperwork from immigration officials.

Without proof of legal status here, their options are limited: They can't apply for driver's licenses, for instance, and aren't eligible for in-state tuition rates at local colleges

snip...
Two years ago, she said, many local immigration offices would quickly provide temporary papers to immigrants who had been granted legal status by a judge. "Within the last year or so, the CIS is turning people away and saying, 'Wait until you're called for your initial appointment,' " she said. "They're refusing to grant temporary stamps at that point. ... Many of these individuals have been waiting months and even a year and 18 months."

more... http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/9921903p-10843948c.html

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. The INS was always pretty disorganized and slow

but since Bush came to power, changed the name from INS to USCIS, and moved immigration adjudications into the new Department Of Homeland Security, it's become completly disfunctional. The latest twist is for cases to be transferred from one section at the USCIS to another. When this happens, the destination of the file does not appear in the computer system, only the fact that it was transferred. For example, I have one case regarding a man who married a US citizen and had his final interview 18 months ago, at which time a decision would normally have been made on the case. They are delaying and delaying a decision, which is not unusual for them. But now what they are doing is preventing anyone from knowing where the file is or when a decision might be made, by transferring the case. As the destination of the file no longer even appears in their own computer, the file becomes offically "in limbo". Imagine a federal agency of the United States that officially tells you their files are "in limbo" if an inquiry is made on the status of a case and why it is being delayed. I had this very thing explained to me about 2 weeks ago, by a Supervising Officer at the USCIS. He also told me to wait about another 6 months before he could authorize a search to see if the file was lost. This from a major federal agency of the United States. It's embarrassing to have to explain to my client how the United States works, at least this part of the federal government.

[silverpatronus]

2. i can personally attest to the BCIS becoming slower than molasses in jan..

i applied as an international student for a temporary social security number so i could work on campus. that was in august 2002. to date i have not received a number. every time i called the social security office, this was the answer:

it went to BCIS for checks, when they send it back, we'll issue your number.

it's almost august 2004. i've resigned myself to the fact that my application was lost somewhere over at BCIS and plan to file a new one when i get back to school. in the meantime, i was forced to take a sabbatical from school because i lost my scholarship and couldn't work to offset my school costs.